Digitalisation: Billions spent yet Bangladesh lags behind in indices

The immediate past government, led by the Bangladesh Awami League (AL), spent billions of taka over 15 and a half years in the name of building a digital Bangladesh.

Despite the huge investments, the country lags behind in different indices, including digital services, use of technology in reducing corruption, human resource development, skill development, and ICT service exports.

The ICT division undertook 53 projects and 34 programmes at a cost of Tk 250 billion between 2009 and 2024, with 22 projects still underway. Besides, various ministries and departments took on projects regarding digitalisation. The posts and telecommunications division alone undertook such projects worth Tk 400 billion.

According to sector insiders, there are a significant number of projects that yielded little benefit. Different infrastructures were built with ‘unrealistic’ promises, while domestic and foreign investments fell far short of expectations. A huge sum of money was spent on training programmes, to get a little in return.

There are widespread allegations of cost overruns, nepotism, and corruption in the ICT division projects.

Insiders said former state minister Zunaid Ahmed Palak and his associates would turn their random ideas into projects. A total of 11 projects were named after Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and his family members to ensure quick approval.

Sajeeb Wazed Joy, son of former prime minister Sheikh Hasina and also her ICT adviser, was in sole control of the ICT and telecommunications sectors, despite his stay abroad.

In a Facebook post in December, 2022, Sajeeb Wazed Joy claimed that Bangladesh had made significant strides in the ICT sector during the last 13 years, with digital centres being set up even at remote villages.

There are many countries across the world that did not chant any slogans or made handsome investments are now ahead of Bangladesh in various indices. Bangladesh ranked 100th out of 193 countries in the United Nations (UN) e-government development index (EGDI) in 2024. Among its peers, India (97th), Sri Lanka (98th), and the Maldives (94th) are ahead of Bangladesh, while Pakistan (136th) lags behind.

The index was prepared on three parameters – online service, telecom infrastructure, and skilled human resource.

The international telecommunication union (ITU) released its ICT development index (IDI)-2024 in June, showing that only about 39 per cent of Bangladeshis use the internet. Bangladesh trails behind Myanmar, Sri Lanka, the Maldives, Vietnam, and Bhutan, though ahead of Pakistan. Data for India was not included in the index.

According to the digital progress and trends report-2023 of the World Bank, Bangladesh has the lowest smartphone user rate in South Asia at about 52 per cent. It also lags in internet speed, digital standard of life, artificial intelligence (AI) usage, and freelancing.

The adviser for ICT and telecommunications, Nahid Islam, said in an annual development programme (ADP) review meeting for the 2024–25 fiscal year that a total of Tk 650 billion was invested in the sector during the Awami League government. Still, Bangladesh is falling behind. The people could not avail the real facilities of digital Bangladesh, except for irregularities.

The Awami League announced its plan to build ‘Digital Bangladesh’ before the 9th parliamentary elections in 2008, and began various projects in this regard after assuming the state power.

Late Syed Abul Hossain, Mostafa Faruk Mohammed, and Abdul Latif Siddiqui headed the ICT division between 2011 and 2014. Later, Zunaid Ahmed Palak was appointed as state minister on 12 January, 2014, and he served in the position for the next 10 years.

Zunaid Ahmed Palak, who has been subjected to numerous allegations of taking arbitrary projects, irregularities, and corruption, was arrested in a murder case after the downfall of the Awami League regime.

The AL introduced a fresh vision of ‘Smart Bangladesh’ in the manifesto for the last election on 7 January 2024. It gave rise to a question: Why was there a need for ‘Smart Bangladesh’ when the goals of ‘Digital Bangladesh’ had not been fully achieved?

While speaking to Prothom Alo in December, 2022, Zunaid Ahmed claimed that the government had been 100 per cent successful in creating Digital Bangladesh, with government services reaching at doorsteps and technology-based industries developing. The whole system was in operation virtually during the Covid-19 pandemic.

However, individuals concerned said internet usage has increased, and government services have gone digital. But these advances have not placed Bangladesh ahead of other countries in some crucial parameters.

M Manjur Mahmud, president of Datasoft Systems, said there were some good initiatives during the early years of the Awami League government, but the last 10 years saw rampant looting. “The previous government has only erected infrastructures. There were no consultations with the ICT sector stakeholders before undertaking any projects.”

The Awami League government took an initiative to build hi-tech and software parks in different districts to attract domestic and foreign investments, and also set up incubation centres for skill development. Among the 92 proposed facilities, only three hi-tech parks, three software parks, and four incubation centres are now in operation, while  some others are under construction. These projects have cost Tk 81.86 billion so far.

In reality, these facilities did not attract the expected investments, while many incubation centres are not even functioning well.

For example, the Sheikh Hasina Software Technology Park in Jashore, built at a cost of Tk 3.05 billion, was inaugurated in 2017. Zunaid Ahmed Palak then told the media that the hi-tech park will be the silicon valley of Bangladesh. But the park has failed to meet the expectations, and its facilities are now being rented out for wedding ceremonies to cover costs.

M Rokonuzzaman, a professor of electrical and computer engineering department at North South University, said, “What did the nation receive from these state of the art buildings? The lenders too have responsibilities to these projects. The issue should come up if the lenders carried out assessments after execution of the projects. The consultants too should be asked what prompted the construction of this type of infrastructure.”  

The Bangladesh computer council (BCC) implemented three projects from 2010 to December 2023 to provide high-speed broadband services at the union level, at a cost of Tk 37.56 billion. Another project – establishment of digital connectivity (EDC) – was undertaken at a cost of Tk 59.23 billion by the ICT division, to provide broadband connections at union and village levels.

There are questions over the impacts and benefits of these projects, as Bangladesh still lags in broadband usage.

A total of Tk 20 billion has been spent on 11 projects and 15 programmes on training since 2009. Projects like freelancing training, language training, cyber training, and digital literacy training continued year after year.

There are allegations that individuals close to the government used to get contracts for training programmes. They pocketed the funds without providing any substantial training.

For example, the learning and earning development project, launched in 2014 with a budget of Tk 3.20 billion, has been criticised by the implementation monitoring and evaluation division for inadequate training, lack of skilled trainers, and poor equipment and internet facilities.

The project ended in 2023. The IMED in 2020 carried out a survey on 500 trainees and came to know from them that the training was not enough for them.

The ICT division had undertaken three programmes at different times from 2013 to 2017 for developing mobile games, apps and trainers, with an expenditure of around Tk 240 million. Then another project, worth Tk 3.3 billion, was taken up for the same tasks from 2016 until December this year. This is underway. Not a single one of the 600 apps developed under the programme could meet the expectations.

Multiple projects were taken up for the same work several times. For example, there is a 10-year-long project, iDEA, to support the startups. At the same time, mentioning the same goals and objectives as iDEA, another project of Tk 3.53 billion is ongoing under the Hi-Tech Park Authority. THe project is titled ‘Digital Entrepreneurship and Innovation Ecosystem Development’.

Farhana A Rahman, former vice-president of BASIS (Bangladesh Association of Software and Information Services), an organisation of the information technology sector, told Prothom Alo that in most of the cases some partisan institutions and individuals have benefitted in the ICT sector in the last 15 years. The sector could not progress as expected.

She further said that it was told that the ICT sector would earn US $5 billion dollar as export income but not even 1 billion could be achieved.